It might feel like the July 1 deadline is far away, but it is time to start preparing to report your releases of toxic materials. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) indicates that printing and related industries are subject to this report. It is an important part of your environmental compliance strategy if you have a facility with at least 10 full-time equivalent employees in a covered NAICS code that exceeded a reporting threshold in the previous calendar year. Reporting releases of toxic materials on an annual basis is one aspect of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).
Read the article with steps to your report for printing and related industries.
Consolidated List of Chemicals Subject to the Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act (EPCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA) and Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act
This article discusses global air quality and how the collaboration between policy-makers and the scientific community can have a continued positive impact on air quality in the U.S. This collaboration has been the primary cause for the improvements observed in air quality over the past few decades.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs, such as the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), New Source Review, and Maximum Achievable Control Technology standards, have all had a significant impact on improving air quality by lowering the ambient concentrations of NOX, VOC, CO, SOX, and PM.
Some areas, such as southern California, have committed to working toward electrifying the transportation network, implementing more stringent standards on diesel fuel sulfur content, and encouraging heavier utilization of public transportation.
Author: SCS Engineers’ Ryan Christman, M.S., is an air quality engineer and environmental management information systems specialist with experience in the oil and gas industry and the solid waste industry. He is just one of SCS’s outstanding Young Professionals.
Agri-business companies handling large quantities of chemicals and transporting them through all sorts of conditions to different facilities must be prepared for an accidental spill. Accidental spills create environmental problems that can cost your business. However, agri-businesses can control their response to spills and react in ways that limit the environmental impact and help save time and money should a spill occur.
Environmental consultant, Tony Kollasch first discusses, what businesses can do to minimize environmental impacts? He covers the importance of spill response preparedness and REACT; Respond, Evaluate, Alert, Contain, Take.
Read the full article published in Wisconsin Agri-Business News Quarterly.
SCS Engineers periodically prepares Technical Bulletins to highlight items of interest to our clients and friends who have signed up to receive them. Our most recent SCS Bulletin summarizes the new rules which took effect on October 28, 2016, with compliance obligations under the NSPS Subpart XXX rule beginning November 28, 2016. Originally, states and local air jurisdictions were to submit their proposed EG rules by May 30, 2017; however, there have been some delays in this process, which we condense and detail in this Bulletin. SCS will continually update coverage of this Rule on our website.
An essential part of landfills accepting organic matter is the gas collection and control system (GCCS) for controlling odors and landfill gas (LFG) emissions into the environment; the piping network. GCCS design and construction have evolved significantly over the past four decades, from passive venting trench systems to a sophisticated and elaborate piping systems with specialized components for handling LFG, landfill liquids, and condensate flowing through the piping network.
This detailed article discusses best practices and recommendations that GCCS designers keep in mind; careful attention to these details can potentially save landfill operators significant modification costs and inconveniences prior to and during construction of the final covers.
Read the full article published in MSW Magazine.
About the Authors: Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. Srividhya Viswanathan, PE, is a Senior Project Manager with over 10 years of engineering experience. David Fisher is an SCS National OM&M Compliance Manager with 18 years of environmental experience.
In a Motion filed on November 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) requested remand of five provisions of the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) Rule (40 CFR Parts 257 and 261), which would allow the agency to reconsider the provisions. This SCS Engineers Technical Bulletin covers the five provisions and the basis for their reconsideration. Read the full text here.
Oral arguments on EPA’s motion took place on November 20, 2017. EPA had asked that oral arguments be postponed, and all other aspects of the litigation are suspended until it could rule, but the court did not agree. The current provisions in this Technical Bulletin remain in place unless and until USEPA revises or rescinds them in a future rulemaking.
SCS Engineers will continue to track these issues and keep you informed. Join our Technical Bulletin email list by clicking here, or follow SCS on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter .
By keeping open lines of communication between industry stakeholders and the U.S. EPA at a federal level, both parties have been able to improve the quality of GHG emissions data reported under the GHGRP while reducing the monitoring burden.
Read this SCS Engineer’s abstract that discusses the cooperation between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and solid waste industry stakeholders in developing, revising, and implementing the landfill reporting requirements as part of the federal GHG Reporting Program (GHGRP) (40 CFR Part 98). The paper covers:
Ann O’Brien of SCS Engineers has pulled together a list of questions that printers should be asking themselves before the environmental reporting season is upon us.
Use Ann’s questions as a guide to find out how ready your company is, and decrease your risk of non-compliance by being more organized.
If you don’t know the answers, ask Ann. She’s one of our air and water permitting, monitoring, and reporting experts at SCS. Ann specializes in printing industry compliance.
Contact and we’ll direct you to an air, storm water, wastewater, or groundwater expert near you and in your industry.
They all use permitted grain elevators. According to Reuters, in 2017, the United States had 25 billion US bushels of storage capacity, a growth of 25% in the previous decade. Reuters Business News, April 11, 2017. There are a myriad of safety and permitting requirements for grain elevators; this article lists a few in Wisconsin.
Securing the proper air permits helps safeguard these facilities against the legal, financial, and reputational risks of non-compliance. The air permitting process can be complicated, but there are tools and people that can help.
Environmental engineering firms help guide companies through the process and offer direct support. States provide tools and support such as the self-serve tools on the WDNR website, for example, to help determine what level of permitting is applicable too. These State environmental sites provide the necessary permitting forms and backup calculations specific to the type of permit your facility may need to apply for. You may be able to submit an application online, and a certified engineer can do that for you as part of a permitting plan.
If you find the sites and requirements perplexing, ask a qualified environmental engineer to help. SCS Engineers professionals are recognized for their environmental permitting knowledge and are available to answer questions.
Learn more about air-permitting in Wisconsin or contact one of SCS Engineers’ local offices in a region near your facility.
Tuesday, October 10, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm ET
This Air & Waste Management Association webinar covers the effective, sustainable operation of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in today’s changing environment.
The latest updates to EPA regulations in over two decades limiting air emissions from landfills will be reviewed in detail.
Participants will learn the available models for quantifying landfill gas generation emissions and which model to use in different situations as well as energy recovery from landfill gas, its emissions, and how control requirements can affect feasibility.
